Mar 21 the hangover: the sequel

Phew. We made it back from Las Vegas in one piece. And more than that: no one got lost, cried or was seriously injured! If that isn't a resounding success than go ahead and charge me $143 for 11 lemondrop shots. Oh wait...

If there is one lesson I learned about Vegas on this trip it's that nothing is for free, except when it is. Our weekend was a dichotomy of many lovely people comping us drinks and meals and many less lovely people charging us $45 for water. But hey, it's Sin City and I've learned my lesson for next time. And there will certainly be a next time there are many more pools, restaurants and clubs for us to conquer.

Conquering the pool.

In short: the weekend was spectacular from start to finish. I underestimated how excited I would be to have so many of my friends under one roof for an extended amount of time; I pretty much felt high the entire trip (although our pomegranate-flavored 5 hour energy drinks may have given us an extra boost).

We stayed at The Palazzo which was unbelievably awesome. The rooms were enormous, had huge bathrooms and pillow-top mattresses, which even when crammed with 7 girls eating Pirate's Booty at 4 AM are more than accommodating.

Our Friday night dinner was at the Sugar Factory Brasserie, where we feasted on two different types of macaroni and cheese, cake pops and champagne courtesy of the future-in-laws. They even printed customized menus for us (see in pic above), which was the icing on the cake (pops).

Cake pops!

Afterwards, we headed to Chippendales, where I WISH I could show you pictures of myself grinding on the lovely duo of James and Jaymes, but unfortunately all photography was strictly prohibited. So was touching their junk, as one unfortunate woman seated in front of us found out the hard way ("No, NO."). But here is a photo of me touching a nipple on the poster outside.

I believe this is James with no Y.

Like any good Vegas bachelorette, I had a crown, a sash and a ring, all of which lit up and were approximately 10 - 15 times cooler than every other crown, sash and ring I saw on the Strip. Also much cooler than anyone else's were our custom-made tank tops, which garnered us group invites to the same three clubs over and over again. Club promoters have radar for large groups of girls, but large groups of girls in matching tee-shirts kind of send them over the edge.

Les tee shirts.

Saturday, after brunch, one such promoter offered us a free cabana at the Palazzo "adults-only" pool, Azure. Don't worry, there weren't porn stars, as far as I could tell. After chugging a literal bucket of sangria, sunning ourselves and checking off items on my scavenger hunt (also in the pic above), we napped before our BIG NIGHT AT THE CLURB.

We started out with dinner at Lavo, where we saw a diminutive Kathy Griffin and her larger and younger boyfriend holding hands. We thought about roping her into our scavenger hunt, but she seemed a little cranky. After eating a whole meatball (which honestly, in retrospect was still an awesome idea), we headed up to the club for some dancing with glow sticks. Also, shots.

I did this pose all weekend. All the time.

There was a little slot playing (and winning for Allie!), bed-snuggling and finally passing out somewhere around ... not sure what time. A good hour.

I'm actually not sure what I expected from my bachelorette weekend, but I can assuredly say that it was one of the most fun trips I've ever had. My friends and family made me feel so loved and special and I'm reminded all over again of why I count them among my closest. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

PS: My mother's only question to me upon returning: "Did you get drunk?"